Taliban alter strategy with ground offensives
Taliban fighters have occupied Miya Nishin district in Kandahar province, while on Saturday hundreds of militants launched raids on police posts in the vicinity of Chora in Uruzgan province. These ground attacks mark a huge shift in Taliban tactics, which had hitherto largely comprised of suicide and roadside bombings.
Civilian casualty toll adds up in Afghanistan
At least 100 people, among them as many as 60 civilians, have been killed amid fighting between NATO-led forces and Taliban fighters during a three-day battle in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan.
A United States-led coalition operation against suspected al-Qaida targets in the Zarghun Shah district of Paktika province in Afghanistan killed seven children on Sunday, it has emerged. An Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has been dispatched to investigate the incident.
Bomb kills 75 near Baghdad mosque
A car bomb has torn through a commercial district in central Baghdad, killing at least 75 people and wounding dozens more. The blast destroyed a wall surrounding a Shia mosque, and damaged part of the buildings main structure. A curfew had been imposed on the capital four days ago after the al-Askariya mosque blast.
10,000 US and Iraqi troops are engaged in Operation Arrowhead Ripper, aimed at dislodging militants from in and around the city of Baquba in Diyala province, considered a stronghold for al-Qaida networks and housing many insurgents who fled Baghdad in the wake of the troop build-up.
Iraq is worse than the likes of Afghanistan, Haiti as well as Somalia, and is "sinking fast", according to the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine's 2007 Failed States Index, released on Monday. The country ranked number four last year. It is now only surpassed by the Sudan.
Alive in Baghdad talks of sectarian violence as a daily experience in Iraq, while Ismail Jalili, Chairman of the National Association of British Arabs, reports on the affliction of assassinations and attacks in the country.
Rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel
Katyusha rockets fired from positions in Lebanon have struck northern Israel. Hezbollah deny responsibility, with both Lebanon and Israel blaming Palestinians based in the former for the attack. No casualties are reported. Israel retaliated by firing five artillery shells into southern Lebanon.
Israeli tanks enter the Gaza Strip
Israeli tanks have entered Gaza at the Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing for a "limited time", according to the Israeli military. Civilian medics were put on standby in order to evacuate any wounded as well as ill Palestinians encamped at the border seeking refuge in the West Bank.
Several hundred people, mostly Fatah supporters in fear of their life and trying to flee the Gaza Strip, have been camping at Erez. The border has been closed since Hamas seized power in Gaza late last week. On Monday, a Palestinian was killed and five others injured when Israeli troops at the Erez checkpoint retaliated after receiving fire.
US joins EU in lifting embargo to assist Abbas
The US lifted its ban on direct aid to and diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian government on Monday, joining the European Union and other nations in offering support to the emergency government established by President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel has said it intends to restrict finances passing into Hamas-ruled Gaza, other than those intended for humanitarian efforts and basic supplies.
Information Minister Riyad al-Maliki has said that Abbas' government "will pursue its jurisdiction over all parts of the homeland, regardless of what happened in Gaza", though it remains unclear how much influence Fatah hold in the Hamas-held territory. Fatah have rejected Hamas' overtures for dialogue, with national security adviser Mohammad Dahlan having described the opposition as an "occupation force".
In March 2007, a Conflicts Forum conference sponsored by the European Commission was held in Beirut. As part of one of its workshops it discussed the political implications of the Hamas electoral victory from Islamist, regional and Western perspectives.
Opposition Islamists granted amnesty in Somalia
Mogadishu has granted amnesty to the leaders and fighters of the Union of Islamic Courts, ousted from power last December. Those with links to "international terrorist" groups have been excluded from this offer, however.
Meanwhile, a gunmen attempted to assassinate presidential spokesperson Hussein Mohamoud Mohamud, Ugandan peacekeepers revealed.
Nigerian dissidents call for change in north
The Nigerian Movement for Justice (MNJ) has taken credit for an attack by some 20 armed men on soldiers at Agadez airport on Sunday evening. MNJ charges the government in Niamey with neglecting the northern region and having failed to develop the country. Niamey rejects any claim of rebellion in the north, blaming recent attacks on bandits or drug and arms smugglers.
Aid agencies in the area have said that they do not intend to withdraw as yet, though will consider doing so if their personnel face danger - the north and east of Nigeria are already off-limits due to the threat of banditry.
Niamey has granted a series of last-minute concessions to trade unions in order to stem a general strike scheduled for Wednesday.
Face-to-face talks between Zim political opponents
Members of Zimbabwe's government and its political opposition met in Pretoria, South Africa, during the weekend in order to discuss rules for the presidential election scheduled for March 2008. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe agreed to talks at the behest of southern African political leaders, with South Africa acting as mediator.
Georgian-Russian tension stymies NATO conference
A 12-15 June meeting in Vienna to discuss the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty saw Georgia and Russia feud over the continuing presence of Russian forces at a military facility at Gudauta, situated in the separatist territory of Abkhazia. Russian troop presence in Moldova's separatist Transdniester was also disputed.
Russia had sought to amend the treaty in order to enhance its strategic position in Europe. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members rejected renegotiation, however.
Situation in S. Thailand "deteriorated" says PM
Thailand's Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has conceded that the situation in the south of the country "had deteriorated". He suggested on Monday that some 700-plus schools in remote and volatile areas beset by insurgent activity be closed down, after a series of recent attacks on teachers. Political violence in Bangkok has likely exacerbated insurgent activity, he remarked. Fourteen people were injured on Monday when a bomb exploded in a busy teashop in Bannang Sata district, Yala province.
JI military ‘leader' to sue over human rights abuse
Lawyers from the Muslim Defender Team are to file a lawsuit against the police who arrested suspected terrorist Abu Dujana, who they claim was forced to squat down and then shot in the leg, citing human rights abuse. The suspect's wife Sri Mardiyati, denies claims that her husband Yusron Mahmudi is one and the same as Abu Dujana, purportedly head of the military wing of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).
US Court considers Agent Orange case
A US court is hearing an appeal by some three million Vietnamese, who seek compensation for the use of Agent Orange by American forces during the Vietnam War, after a lower court overturned to case in 2005 citing inadequate proof that Agent Orange caused ill-health.
President Nguyen Minh Triet is to discuss the case with US President George W. Bush later in the week, during the first trip by a Vietnamese head of state since hostilities ended in the 1970s.
N. Korea launches short-range missile
A Japanese government spokesperson has said that North Korea has fired a short-range missile towards the Sea of Japan, also know as the East Sea. US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill has arrived in Tokyo to discuss proposed six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms programme.
Italian court suspends ‘extraordinary rendition' trial
An Italian judge has suspended the trial of 25 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives, a US military officer and former Italian spies, accused of ‘extraordinary rendition', to await a ruling from the Constitutional Court as to whether the methods of obtaining evidence by prosecutors infringed on state secrecy laws. Wiretaps, as well as classified documents, were used as evidence by the prosecution.
